Gateways to New York City, Then and Now

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/05/opinion/letters/penn-station-new-york-city.html

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To the Editor:

In “Penn Station Was Once an Exalted Gateway. Here’s How It Became a Reviled Rat’s Maze” (Past Tense, April 29), Michael Kimmelman eloquently describes the magnificence of the original McKim, Mead & White Penn Station and what an egregious error it was to demolish it.

He is also correct that the current squalid and dangerous Penn Station is an embarrassment to New York, and indeed all of America. It is all the more absurd that a dated sports arena, Madison Square Garden, is on top of the depot.

There is a movement to rebuild the original station. Some historic buildings are so important, so symbolic, that they deserve to be faithfully reconstructed. Penn Station is such a building.

Just as the people of France should rebuild Notre-Dame, the people of New York should restore Penn Station to its awe-inspiring majesty.

Justin ShubowSamuel A. TurveyMr. Shubow is president of the National Civic Art Society, and Mr. Turvey is chairman of the society’s Rebuild Penn Station project steering committee.

To the Editor:

Writing about Penn Station, Michael Kimmelman says “there was a time when New York City had the gateway it deserved.” Yet today the city does have a gateway it deserves: Grand Central Terminal.

When I was a child, Grand Central was my portal to the city when we came in on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad to spend a day with my father in his sculpture studio or to go to the circus, see a play or have a meal at Trader Vic’s.

The resurgence of Grand Central in recent years offers a reminder that our infrastructure can be a source of pride, joy and functionality. I stop there every time I’m in town just for the thrill of it.

Chris WeinmannNorwich, Vt.